


All good things come to those who can wait

by Madam_Violet



Series: The Vault Chronicles [15]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, I tried to make this serious, Prompt Fic, crafting again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 09:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13478853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madam_Violet/pseuds/Madam_Violet
Summary: The Doctor decides to teach Missy patience by subscribing to a building kit magazine.





	All good things come to those who can wait

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still unable to install an English corrector on my Open Office, but I've found a great website for this ! So this time there will be no typos (I hope) and no grammar mistakes.   
> Prompt by Meancatoal88.

It was almost the second half of the month, the Doctor registered while writing the date on the board. This particular habit of him always made the new students giggle. Apparently it wasn't a common thing to write the date on the board after the end of middle school. But if they didn't write the date, how did humans, especially with their pudding brains, could remember the day, the month or even the year ? The Doctor was rather impressed since he had great difficulties to remember the right year. It made the students giggle too.  
The third Wednesday of the month was the day he received the children magazine about the stars with the new pieces for the little planetarium. It was a nice publication, full of this strange humanity the Doctor would always love in the Earth sciences books. Of course, it was a publication for kids, but even the most serious scientific papers were nothing but myths and legends with a little bit of wisdom. It was funny how humans from any age were certain they had reached the ultimate stage of knowledge.  
  
Anyway, he had subscribed to the magazine for the planetarium kit. A beautiful replica of the solar system. A simple but precise mechanism reenacting the rotations and the revolutions of the planets under a glass-like plastic dome covered with constellations. Missy loved it. The Doctor knew she would have an interest for it, but he wasn't sure about the subscription thing. It could be a good experiment. Of course, she had expressed her frustration in a very vocal way and had ordered the Doctor to use the TARDIS and pick every issue until the kit is complete. But the Doctor had refused. Missy wasn't used to refusals, except of course for her extravagant requests. But she couldn't understand why the Doctor would deny her such a simple and harmless pleasure.  
“I'm sure you will understand later” he had answered her.  
Of course, she had screamed and thrown a tantrum, but the Doctor had managed to stay firm.  
“You have to learn patience. It's very important if you want to be good. You also have to learn we don't always get what we want at the moment we want it. Good things must be deserved.”  
Missy had stuck her tongue out and whined loudly.  
“Don't talk to me like I was a child !”  
The Doctor had laughed a bit and regretted it. He wasn't mocking her, of course, but she had understood it like it and had felt hurt. The truth was, he had laughed because of the whole irony of the situation, Missy making a childish face and reproaching him to treat her like a child. And he had laughed because she was irresistibly cute. But saying that would only have hurt her more.  
“I promise to buy every issue until the end. But if you misbehave too much, I will stop the subscription, though.”  
Missy had nodded. It was better than nothing. He had skipped one issue, once. She had been really rude and demanding with Nardole and had acted like a petulant child. Believing he was putting his threat to acts, she had cried a lot and begged the cyborg to reason with the Doctor. Off course, he had only delayed the delivery. Her impatience had become a good way to reward her. When she was being really nice, she even got her issue a few days sooner.  
After the class he rushed to his office and greeted Nardole, who had already taken the mail at the school mail box.  
“Boring, boring, stuff to pay... ah ! Here it is !”  
Nardole frowned.  
“You're still suscribing to this magazine ?”  
“Of course I am. We still haven't finished building the planetarium.”  
“You're aware it's far more expensive than buying a planetarium, or even better, to make one yourself.”  
“Whatever, it's not your money. I'm trying to teach her patience. And she likes children books.”  
  
In the Vault, Missy was waiting for the Doctor. The planetarium kit was already on the tea table, waiting for its Pluto. As primitive as it was, it reminded her the Kasterborous constellation model she had owned as a child, before the Academy, the drums and all the suffering. Before the Doctor too, when everything was still blank, a life to build.  
Before they began the kit, Missy never really knew what day it was, even less the month or the year. Her only remarkable temporal pattern was linked to the Doctor's schedules. He spent his week ends, or at least his Sundays, with her in the Vault, and came more often during the holidays. Apart from her friend's mundane activities, time didn't exist in the Vault.  
At 5 PM, when the class were over, the Doctor knocked at the door and entered. Missy was watching him expectantly behind the force field, and he had to suppress a stupid smile. He lowered the shield and let her take her present. She opened it eagerly, discarding the magazine for now to take the small planet and add it to her model. She sighed. The solar system was complete, it was the end of the collection.  
“It looks really nice” the Doctor said.  
“Hmm. Yes, it's pretty.”  
“You seem a bit off. What's bothering you ?”  
“Nothing, it's just that now it's over. I won't have anything special to wait for.”  
The Doctor smiled broadly and shook his head with endearment. She hated when he did this. She hated even more the fact she loved it.  
“What ?”  
“Nothing. I told you you would understand later. Having everything the moment you want it isn't good. If I had given you the whole thing, you would have played with it for a few days and it would now be forgotten in a cupboard. But the waiting kept you excited of months and now it's over you feel a little sad.”  
Missy frowned.  
“Don't talk to me like that, I'm not a preschooler.”  
“No, you're right. I always get carried away when you act good.”  
Missy bit her lower lip and turned her eyes to the model on the table.  
“Are you sure being patient is part of being good ? I've always been patient, you know. Remember the Nethersphere, the Archangel Network or any of my long planned schemes. I've always been thrilled by the wait.”  
The Doctor felt a little bit ashamed for assuming Missy had the attention span of a human kid.  
“I'm sorry. I'm not the patient type, so I tried to teach you a lesson I needed to learn.”  
Missy smiled at him coyly.  
“Is it a bad thing ? Maybe we both need this thousand year therapy if we want to get along.”  
“You're right, Missy. You're so right. We both need a change. Thank you for being my moral compass.”  
He took her by the hand and gave a chaste kiss on her lips, like this day in the graveyard. She closed her eyes and tried to slow down her perception of time.  
“Maybe we should begin a new project, Missy. What about a spaceship model ? Or a dollhouse ?”  
“Do you think we could make a miniature TARDIS, one bigger on the inside ?”  
“I'll look what I can do.”


End file.
